Nightmuse: Poems of Speculative Darkness PREORDER

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All preordered copies of this title will be signed by cover artist Dan Sauer and will also include an adhesive bookplate signed by the author.

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“No other spirit has from my head
Torn such otherworldly visions
Of wonder & horror, awe & dread.”

The stars are right: Nightmuse speaks directly into your ear. Your spirit shivers as incantations lock you in shackles forged of words, not steel. Delectable and dangerous rarely uttered words… Behold that ancient angel, bleak and desirous, the blackened queen of the waste. Ashes and dreams cling to her ebony crown. Follow her, for she awaits you just outside the perimeters of normalcy… Come, if you dare, into a world of vision bestowed by that ethereal messenger of the decadent dark. The Nightmuse requests an audience. She waits for you. Open to the first page and hang on, for she will have her way….

SCOTT J. COUTURIER, a leading voice of dark and speculative poetry, presents his second book of verse: Nightmuse. This superlative collection delivers a wealth of weird verse guaranteed to make you pause and shiver. Drawing inspiration from the work of Guy de Maupassant, William Hope Hodgson, H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and other masters of weird fiction, Couturier’s work contained herein is an explosive exploration of ulterior strangeness—poems of terror and wonder, fantasy and nightmare, all writ in a rich, voluptuary style. These poems of dark veneration are not for the faint of heart. Come—the Nightmuse awaits.

Trade Paperback - 6x9 inches Approx. 110 pages With illustrations by Dan Sauer

“Couturier’s poems carry the reader from lich-haunted ruins to rotted gardens, from the poppy-sick graveyard of the Gods to a temple home to bloodthirsty cats, from echoing pharaonic quarries to a masterless ship sailing abyssal seas—and there is no guarantee of safe return.” —REBECCA BUCHANAN, author of Not a Princess, But (Yes) There Was a Pea and Other Fairy Tales to Foment Revolution

“Nightmuse is Scott J. Couturier’s love letter to the things that lurk in the shadows and hail from the Underworld. Here one will find all sorts of malefactors, ghouls, and goblins (i.e. Lich Queens, necromancers, werewolves, and prodigious coffin worms) all delineated in the most belletristic and decadent language, redolent of incense and charnel vapor in the vein of David Park Barnitz or Clark Ashton Smith, yet with unique flair and a modern sensibility. Couturier is our contemporary bard of the Weird, and this collection is a must-have for lovers of the uncanny and darkly beautiful.” —MANUEL ARENAS, author of Book of Shadows and The Burning Ember Mission of Helldorado

“Over the last decade, Scott J. Couturier has established himself as one of the premier weird poets of our time. Nightmuse amply demonstrates the many virtues in his work: a keen sense of the weirdness in both life and literature; a firm grasp of meter and rhythm; and the ability to invest venerable weird motifs (ghosts, witches, werewolves, the appalling mystery of death) with new relevance. H. P. Lovecraft is a central influence, and Couturier admirably reflects the cosmicism at the heart of Lovecraft’s work; but Couturier also draws inspiration from William Hope Hodgson, Clark Ashton Smith, and other weird masters, while at the same time retaining his own distinctive vision of a universe of terror and fantasy.” —S. T. JOSHI, editor of Spectral Realms

“Nightmuse: Poems of Speculative Darkness by Scott J. Couturier is captivating. It pulls you into a realm where wonder, wit, and horror intertwine at the shadowed edges of liminal imagination. Couturier explores cosmic terrors, spectral love, ancient gods, and the fragile line between beauty and decay. Each poem is a tapestry of eerie landscape and otherworldly vision. Couturier travels the wide range of what poetry can be, from the chill of ‘The Black City’ to the dark humor of ‘The Temple Cats of Brin-na-Bool,’ with every word distinct, delivering an experience both timeless and deeply personal.” —ANGELA YURIKO SMITH, author of Inujini and Bitter Suites

"Connoisseurs of the macabre will find much to savor in this motley hoard of phantasmal poetry. Couturier's intricately wrought verses skillfully evoke the disquieting art of the necromancer: putrescent things are awakened to dance in the moonlight—a spectral spectacle which ought to repulse, but instead is ineffably compelling.” —ADAM BOLIVAR, author of A Wheel of Ravens and Told by Firelight in Timbered Halls

CONTENTS:

For the Nightmuse

Visions of Darkness
The Black City
The Idiot God
The Plague Queen
Slayer of Suns
Amongst the Sargasso
Incubus
The Dying Flower of My Soul
The Black Egg
Infernal Candle
The Revenant
Twin Hungers
The Stars Were Right
The Guide
Your Flower Blooms
The Black Muse

Visions of Phantasy
Stela of Selos
Lord of Dreaming
Graveyard of the Gods
Dragon Desire
The Pack
The Lich-Queen
The Temple Cats of Brin-na-Bool
Serincia, or The Amours of Death
Under a Sun Long-Estranged
Rek-Cocci Stirs
Amongst the Flowers
The Necromancer's Charm
The Crimson Knight
The Ghoul’s Delirium
To the Wolves

Spectral Visions
Ghosts Everywhere Writhe
They Say
Occupant of the Red Chamber
In Tura
Ode to an Ancient Priestess with a Golden Prosthetic Eye
What Ails You
Ship that Knows no Shore
Little Do They Know
Red Tresses
To Kiss Death’s Shroud
A Grave Vision
Unknowing Hands
Nightmare
Verses inspired by Le Horla
Amongst the Dead